Lathrop High opening smooth

LATHROP - The bells did not ring. The main road leading to the campus was closed. And some students were not quite sure where to go, but by all accounts it was a smooth opening day at Lathrop High School.

LATHROP - The bells did not ring. The main road leading to the campus was closed. And some students were not quite sure where to go, but by all accounts it was a smooth opening day at Lathrop High School.

"We knew we wouldn't have bells," Principal David Chamberlain said. "We knew Lathrop Road would be closed. We planned for it."

Classes started on schedule at 7:25 a.m.

Four-hundred and sixty students showed up for the first day of school at the city's first high school, the fifth comprehensive high school in Manteca Unified School District.

"It's a great day to be a Spartan," Chamberlain said.

It was a typical first day, complete with schedule change requests and last-minute student registration.

Duane Davis of Lathrop sat in the office with his godson, Michael LaVenture, a 15-year-old sophomore who last attended San Leandro High School.

LaVenture was waiting to talk with one of the school's two full-time counselors about 8 a.m.

"Overall the school is a nice school," said Davis, after LaVenture got his class schedule and was heading to his health course. "I think it will be a good place for all the students."

Bob Lee, director of secondary education for Manteca Unified, made the new school his first stop Monday morning. He planned to visit Sierra High School in Manteca later in the day.

He applauded the staff's organizational skills, particularly in helping students who were tardy or had failed to pick up a class schedule at last week's orientation.

"The school is absolutely gorgeous, and the kids are very excited," Lee added. "The staff members are like first-time parents. They are very proud."

New schools, he said, tend to have kinks, and at Lathrop High there were few, Lee said.

By the time first period ended - an occasion marked by Chamberlain on the school's public announcement system with a hearty congratulations - the students and staff were adjusting to the new campus and faces.

The day was not without criticism.

Sophomore Carmen Martinez, 16, carried a thick binder but had no where to put it when she did not need it.

"It would be nice if we had our lockers," she said.

Lockers are installed, but locks have not arrived yet.

Martinez also said it is a tad lonely on campus compared with Sierra, where she attended as a freshman. The student population at Sierra dropped from 2,200 last year to about 1,700 this year as a result of Lathrop High's opening. That campus was much more populated, she said.

Sophomore Vincent Mendoza, 15, was more positive.

"It's kind of exciting," he said.

Chamberlain said parents were driving a little fast on Dos Reis Road when leaving campus. He urged those picking up students to slow down and be cautious.

It came together nicely, he said.

"The support staff and the custodial staff are tremendous," the principal said. "It's been wonderful."